“If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath–a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.” Dave Grossman

There were two general reactions to the cowardly shooting in Colorado. The sheep thought “Thank God I was not in that theater, I would have died”. The sheep dogs thought “If I had been in the theater, maybe I could have done something to stop him”.

No one can plan a response to such an unpredictable attack. We can, however, think about how to think. We can prepare and strengthen ourselves so that when we are there, we will be prepared to do all that we can do. I don’t want to speculate about what happened or second guess anyone’s actions, but we can have a discussion about what we should think about for the next time.

I have seen film of the Nazi’s leading people to the edge of a hole where they were executed. One body would fall in and the next victim walked to the edge and repeated the process. I always wondered why they didn’t fight. They were in denial and hoped that things would turn out OK if they just cooperated.

The first thing I want to do in a shooting is dismiss the false hope that everything may work out if I do nothing. If I freeze like prey, maybe he will move on. There is a school of thought among some police officers that when you are off duty, you should be a good witness and not intervene. What do you do when they are killing witnesses?

Once you get rid of false hope, you are left with action. When you have to eat a shit sandwich, bite the corner where it is mostly bread. The truth is, your best odds are to rapidly asses, come up with a plan and do ANYTHING which seizes initiative and initiates movement.

Tony Blauer has done more thinking and study on ambush than anyone I know. He has three golden rules for an unexpected attack:
1) Accept what is happening It is human nature to avoid the unpleasant and ignore the incomprehensible. Have the courage to face reality.

2) Get challenged No matter what the odds, you need to rise to the challenge. Don’t accept a no win situation.